Last month saw more UK house prices rising than falling for the first time in almost two years, according to the latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) house price balance survey.
This showed that the balance turned positive for the first time since October 2022, with a reading of +1% in August, immediately following the Bank of England's interest rate cut that month.
It marked a significant improvement from the -18% balance recorded in July and thoroughly exceeds market expectations, which had forecast a modest improvement to -14%.
RICS’ house price balance measures the difference between the percentage of survey respondents reporting rising house prices and those seeing declines.
It provides a broad view of current market conditions and sentiment across different regions of the UK.
While most regions of the UK reported stable or slightly positive house price trends, certain areas, such as Wales, the South East, and the South West of England, continue to experience weaker growth compared to the national average.
In contrast, house prices in Northern Ireland and Scotland are rising firmly, according to the survey's findings.
Economist Rob Wood at Pantheon Macroeconomics said the Bank of England's early-August rate cut "immediately boosted the housing market".
He said this raises the upside risks to his forecast for house price inflation to accelerate to 4% year-over-year in the fourth quarter, which in turn will support consumer spending.
"The housing market, like the wider economy, has proved resilient to higher interest rates this year. With real incomes continuing to rise and the MPC now cutting interest rates we expect house price inflation to accelerate."